LUXEMBOURG - Wednesday, September 9th 2015 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Jean Boulle Medtech Ltd, a Jean Boulle Group (www.jeanboullegroup.com) medical technology company and founding investor of Tendyne Holdings, Inc. ("Tendyne"), is pleased to announce that Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) has closed its acquisition of Tendyne (www.tendyne.com). Abbott thereby acquires the remaining shares of Tendyne that it does not already own for US$250 million plus potential future payments tied to regulatory milestones. This acquisition culminates a relationship that began when Jean Boulle Medtech welcomed Abbott as an early strategic investor in Tendyne. Jean Boulle Medtech worked with Tendyne's most recent investor, Apple Tree Partners, in helping to complete the transaction.

Tendyne has developed a heart valve specifically designed to address the complex mitral anatomy of functional, degenerative and mixed etiology mitral regurgitation – a disorder in which the mitral valve on the left side of the heart does not close properly. Left untreated, mitral regurgitation can lead to heart failure and death. Many millions of people, in the United States alone, will benefit from mitral valve replacement.

The Tendyne mitral valve is literally placed inside a beating heart via a transcatheter and does not require open-heart surgery. There is therefore no need to stop the heart beating, as has been the case up till now. A catheter enters the bottom of the heart through a small tube inserted in a small incision in the patient’s chest. The physician uses the tube to deploy the valve and positions it so that it rests over the heart's existing mitral valve. It is then anchored securely in place by an adjustable tether. The valve is fully retrievable, totally repositionable and is sewn onto a Nitinol frame. Nitinol is a superelastic nickel and titanium "shape memory alloy" whose flexibility eases implantation, but regains its original shape when it returns to a patient’s normal body temperature.

The Tendyne valve’s nickel/titanium alloy composition is derived from a corporate history of making major discoveries which Tendyne has in common with three other Jean Boulle Group Companies. The first founded Diamond Fields Resources, Inc, and discovered one of the world's largest and richest nickel deposits in Voisey's Bay, Canada. The second founded Titanium Resources Group Ltd and restarted and rediscovered one the world's largest and richest titanium mines in Sierra Leone. The third, World Titanium Resources discovered and is developing one of the world’s largest and highest-grade titanium deposits, in South Western Madagascar.

The Tendyne valve is currently undergoing clinical trials in the United States, Great Britain and Australia as part of a multi-center global feasibility study on the safety and performance of the Tendyne valve in patients with symptomatic mitral regurgitation of degenerative or functional etiology, some of whose medical conditions would otherwise make them inoperable. Initial patient results have been positive with most, if not all, patients having no mitral valve regurgitation after being discharged from hospital within a few days of surgery.

The Tendyne valve has been successfully implanted in patients at such internationally renowned medical institutions as the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, England (http://www.rbht.nhs.uk/media/press-releases/worlds-first-implantation-of-new-heart-valve-at-royal-brompton-hospital/); St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia; and The Minneapolis Heart Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota (http://www.mplsheart.org/minneapolis-heart-institute-foundation-performs-1st-us-implant-of-valve-replacement-device/). Other prestigious medical institutions in the expanding universe of Tendyne clinical trials include Baylor Heart and Vascular Center, Dallas, Texas; Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio; St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn, New York; and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Members of Tendyne's Medical Advisory team include : Mark Gillinov MD, The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center; Paul Grayburn MD, Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital; Lucian Lozonschi MD, Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; Georg Lutter MD, University of Kiel, Eduardo de Marchena MD, Professor of Medicine and Surgery and Associate Dean for International Medicine, University of Miami Health System; Mark Reisman MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Washington; Murat Tuzcu MD, The Cleveland Clinic; and Horst Sievert MD.

Jean Boulle Medtech is a subsidiary of the medical division of the Jean Boulle Group of Companies. This division invests in medical technology and includes companies such as Jean Boulle Medtech (Ocudyne) Ltd., which is the founding investor in a project exploring the cause of, and a cure for, aged-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness around the world.

About the Jean Boulle Group Medical Division

The Jean Boulle Group Medical Division invests in promising medical technologies with funding and gives corporate and technical support. It welcomes queries.

Contacts

Jean Boulle Group

Ms Audrey Richardson

Tel: +352 222 512

Fax: +352 222 413

audrey@jeanboullegroup.com

http://www.jeanboullegroup.com

Wayne Malouf, in Dallas, Texas

+1 214 691 9000

wmalouf@jeanboullegroup.com.

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